Second Last Moment
by uNperfectXxXx
Summary: Sanji definitely didn't plan to spend his last moments with the marimo of all people, but in the end it's not so bad. (NO character death, but implications of it. Rated T for mentions of gore and crude language)


**Hey you guys :) It feels like it's been ages since I've posted anything, sorry about that. Hopefully this will make up for it :P There are hints of ZoSan in there, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy it! :) - Ani**

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><p><span><strong>Second Last Moment<strong>

„Oi... Marimo..."

„Yes, shitty cook?"

„I think... I might actually die."

Zoro scoffed, wiping blood from his forehead with the arm that wasn't trapped under a rock. "Stop talking bullsh-"

"It's _NOT_ bullshit!", Sanji hissed. "Listen to me!"

And Zoro was silent, just like that. Sanji almost wanted to laugh. He felt more like crying though. "I... I don't think I'll make it. So... tell the others... to have a good journey, okay?"

Zoro made a strange garbled noise that could have been a sigh. "I won't."

"_Huh?_" Even in this situation Sanji's temper still flared. "Why not, bastard?"

"Because you're not going to die."

It felt like a slap in the face. Sanji swallowed heavily. "Look, Zoro. Everybody d-"

"NOT here!", Zoro cut him off fiercely and even though Sanji couldn't turn his head to see it he knew that the swordsman's eyes held that demonic glint reserved for strong enemies. "Not now. We won't die. We_ can't._"

Sanji couldn't quite bring himself to pity the swordsman because he so, _so_ wanted to believe him. Still... "Zoro... Your stomach is-"

"I know. I can feel it", the other man cut him off, eying the mass of blood-red flesh protruding from the huge puncture wound made by a metal pole. "Looks kinda gross."

Sanji chuckled, lighting a cigaret – his last one? – with shaking hands. "Yeah, it does."

"Your leg, too."

The cook looked down at his leg, black and blue and bent at an odd angle that should be all kinds of painful. Sanji didn't even feel it. Was that a good or a bad sign? "Yup."

Zoro sighed and lay his head on the rubble they had fallen on, blinking moisture out of his eyes – sweat or blood, who cared at this point. "Cook?"

A deep drag of his beloved nicotine made Sanji relax against the hard ground before he acknowledged the other man's question. "Hm?"

"I like your food."

Sanji whipped around painfully to stare at the swordsman who was stubbornly refusing to look back at him. "_What?_"

"Your food. It's good."

"I heard you the first time, idiot", Sanji snapped, trying not to jostle his own body in anger and worsen his wounds even further. "I thought you weren't going to die!"

"I won't."

"Then why are you saying shit like that now?"

Zoro shrugged. "Just felt like it."

"You don't just_ feel like _making me a compliment, shit head!", Sanji fumed with a hard edge in his voice that may have been concern on anybody else. "What's this really about?"

The swordsman sighed. "I dunno", he admitted. "Just wanted to say it. I never have before, right?"

Sanji was too stunned to answer.

"Besides", Zoro continued aloofly. "You're girly enough to care about compliments."

Sanji scoffed and raised a hand to weakly hit Zoro's upper thigh, the only part of the swordsman he could reach. "Asshole..."

"Shitty cook", Zoro retorted softly. The way he said it made the insult sound almost fond, but that was probably Sanji's imagination.

"I think-", the cook started, but stopped to bite his lip in thought.

"What?", Zoro asked, looking at the sky. It was a mockingly pretty blue, just like the cook's eyes. What about that. Zoro almost snorted at the irony, but Sanji interrupted his train of thoughts.

"I think... I'll make Luffy a meat plate for dinner", the cook said, finishing his cigaret with one last, fulfilling drag. "I'll pick the mushrooms out of Usopp's dishes so he won't have to do it. Give Chopper cotton candy for dessert. Make a big cake for the ladies. Maybe I'll try out that cola ice cream recipe for Franky. And biscuits to go with Brook's tea." He patted his suit pockets for another smoke, cursing when he found none. "I got some new spices at the last town, so there are a few things I want to try. When this is over I'll make them a feast."

Zoro smiled as he imagined it. "What about me, cook?"

Sanji chuckled. "As long as there's booze you'll be happy, right?"

Zoro was silent for a moment.

"...Onigiri."

Sanji twisted to look at the swordsman. "What?"

Zoro lifted his head to meet his gaze with a small smile. "Make me some, okay?"

The cook couldn't help the look of wonder crossing his face. "You never asked for anything, so I thought-"

"That I don't like anything specific?", Zoro finished for him, hitting the nail on the head. "Well, I like onigiri. Anything with rice actually."

Sanji chuckled.

"What?"

"Just imagined you doing that stupid swords move with real onigiri." Sanji laughed at the mental image. "Holy shit, that would look so stupid."

Zoro let his head fall back, trying to look irritated, but couldn't help but chuckle at the cook's amusement. "It would, wouldn't it?"

"Onigiri", the cook snorted, throwing them both into a full-out laughing fit. It wasn't a pretty sound with their raspy, dying voices, but they kept laughing through the pain, going off again as soon as one of them started to calm down. It wasn't even that funny, but now that the mood had been lifted they couldn't seem to stop. They didn't want to.

In the end it took them longer than it should have to calm down, but when they did the silence between them was no longer uncomfortable.

"Oi, cook."

"Hm?"

"I can't reach my belly."

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "So I noticed."

"It itches."

"_Itches?_" The cook looked at him in disbelief. "You are fucking_ impaled_ on a metal stick and complaining about an _itch?_"

He could just about _feel_ the swordsman's annoying smirk. "This is nothing. Chopper can fix it."

"It's not nothing", Sanji mumbled under his breath. Either Zoro hadn't heard him or chosen to ignore it because he fell silent after that.

Sanji bit the inside of his lip, trying to compensate for the lack of cigaret between his teeth. Sometimes it sure sucked being an addict. What he wouldn't give for a smoke right now... Did Zoro feel the same if he didn't get his share of alcohol? Did he feel it right now?

Wait, that reminded him...

"Oi, marimo. What kind of sake do you want for that feast?", he asked, mostly to distract himself. Zoro didn't respond.

Sanji's brow furrowed slightly.

"Hey, at least answer when someone's talking to you, asshole", he said in annoyance, bristling angrily when the swordsman ignored him again. _What the hell?_

"Answer me, Zoro, or I won't make a shitty onigiri for you ever again!" That should prompt a reaction.

...Still nothing.

A feeling of dread filled Sanji's stomach. "Zoro! Oi, this isn't funny!"

Silence.

_He wouldn't. He couldn't have-_

Disregarding his own injuries Sanji turned enough to get a good look at Zoro. He felt his stomach drop when he saw the swordsman's eyes closed, face white from blood loss.

"Zoro", he whispered, voice cracking on the single word. When the other man still wouldn't move he snapped. "What are you doing? Playing dead? This isn't some joke, you asshole!"

No reaction.

Sanji paled. It_ couldn't _be.

"_Zoro!_", he shouted, desperation filling his voice. "Wake up, you fucking idiot! You can't just fall asleep like that, you shitty bastard!"

Still nothing. Sanji fought against the tears now pricking behind his eyelids. "ZORO! WAKE UP GODDAMMIT! CHOPPER!_ HELP! CHOPPEEEER!_"

"...Shuddup."

Sanji's breath hitched at the almost inaudible groan.

"Zoro?", he asked timidly. His voice had never sounded to unsure.

"Who else?", the swordsman replied groggily, turning his head slightly to blink at Sanji. "Man, you look like shit."

"You..." Sanji's shoulders started to sag in relief before what just happened fully registered. He immediately saw red. "You_ idiot!_", Sanji yelled, rage making his hands throb with the need to strangle that green haired bastard. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Zoro weakly raised an eyebrow. "Um... resting?"

Something in Sanji snapped. "_Resting?_ You looked _dead_, you shitty marimo!", he screamed at the swordsman, voice breaking from sheer volume. "And even after- you just- you wouldn't-" The cook trailed off, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. He ran a hand over his face, wincing when it came away wet. Great. Crying over the stupid moss head. A humorless chuckle escaped his raw throat as his anger gave way to embarrassment. "_Resting_, what a fucking joke..."

"Oh", Zoro breathed as realization dawned on his face. "You thought..."

Sanji stubbornly turned his head away. "Leave me alone, bastard. Go and die, see if I care."

He regretted the words right as they left his mouth. Sanji bit his lip to try and stop the tears of frustration still threatening to run down his cheeks. Fuck, he was a mess. Well, guess that's what being half-dead does to you. He didn't take it back though, determined not to let the other man see his weakness.

"I'm sorry", the swordsman suddenly spoke up, startling Sanji. "I kind of... blacked out a little back there. I should have tried harder to stay awake."

For Zoro to admit to something like that... A feeling of helplessness washed over Sanji. They really were_ that _close to dying, weren't they? The cook had to bite down on a small sob building up in his throat. "Damn right you should've, you shit swordsman."

Zoro smiled slightly when he heard Sanji's choking breaths. "Oi, don't cry, you idiot."

"Fuck you!", Sanji snapped tearfully before wiping his eyes with his thankfully unbloodied sleeve. Fuck, now he _really_ needed a smoke. "You can't just scare people like that!"

"What", Zoro teased lightly. "You so worried about me?"

Sanji didn't even bother trying to lie.

"Yes."

They were silent after that, only their ragged breaths filling the silence. Surprisingly Zoro tried to break it first.

"Listen, cook-"

"Shut up", Sanji mumbled, now more than a little embarrassed about his outburst. "I don't want to hear it."

They fell into silence once again until Sanji could hear rustling sounds behind him, indicating that the swordsman was moving around. He growled under his breath. That damn bastard. Was he _trying_ to give him a heart attack? Then again, how could he have been stupid enough to think that _anything_ could kill that bas-

The cook jolted when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. What-

"Sanji."

He gulped when he heard his name from the other man's lips. Zoro never called him that.

"Gimme your hand."

Sanji recoiled. "_What?_"

"So when I fall asleep again you can pinch me or something instead of screaming like a girl. I want to keep my eardrums", Zoro grumbled, sounding almost embarrassed to be offering something as mushy as physical contact.

Sanji was silent for quite some time as he considered it. Just as Zoro started to retract his hand he reached up and grabbed the proffered limb.

"If you tell anyone-"

"I won't."

"-I swear to God, I'll kill you."

"I know."

_Good_, was what he wanted to say, but Sanji's throat locked up when he felt a thumb run across the back of his hand, a single swipe, simple and reassuring, soothing his fractured nerves in ways words never could. Sanji breathed in heavily, trying not to clench Zoro's hand too tightly. _He's alright. He's gonna be alright..._

And not even a minute later the heavenly sound of footsteps up the hill reached his ear just before a sharp gasp and a cry of "THEY'RE HERE! CHOPPER!" in an all-too familiar voice did. Sanji sighed softly, relief making his tense muscles relax and his vision turn dark as his body finally deemed it safe enough to shut down and take a much needed rest.

On the edge of consciousness he felt a squeeze to his hand before it was let go, unneeded now, and fell uselessly to his side. He didn't have to turn his head to feel Zoro's smirk.

"Better now, cook?"

"Shut up, moss head."

**THE END**


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